Masteries

Offense:
0

Defense:
21

Utility:
9

Hello and welcome to my Galio build guide! In case you are still wondering after viewing the masteries and items, this will be a guide on how to build Galio as a tank. While he is very capable of going DPS, I especially like to tank with him due to his ability to force the entire enemy team into attacking him while your team beats the tar out of them. He even gets to run away afterwards if you are smart and your team is good.

A pretty simple description. Does decent damage. As a tank, you will mostly be using it to help your team in chasing by slowing enemies. You can also use it to hinder opponents as you make your escape.

Galio's way of defending the team even when his ultimate is on CD (cooldown for newcomers). It can even be cast on yourself to reduce incoming damage and heal! The bonus resist and armor also can make some champions incredibly hard to kill while it is up. (I am looking at you Garen)

I cannot express how much I love this ability. Not only does it do a great amount of damage to nearly every champion early game, it also has a few other uses as well. When combined with resolute smite in chasing, the team movement boost and the enemy movement slow can often mean a sure kill. In running, the two moves combined can often mean a clean escape (of course there can always be complications. Even in laning, when used with resolute smite, it becomes an awesome farming tool as well as a harassment method.

This is what makes Galio that exploding angel. It is also what makes many enemies back away from your towers when he hits level six. When used intelligently, it can easily destroy the enemy team in team fights, either that or severely cripple their advance. What's even better is that the damage taken is factored BEFORE damage reduction by armor, the ultimate effect, and magic resist. It treats it like you're taking true damage when you're not.

Summoner SpellsFlash- Why? Galio's ultimate is hyper-dependent on positioning. What better way than to blink into an enemy team and throw a massive ultimate in their face before they know what hit them?Fortify- Again. Why? Great support/defensive spell. It almost always can save a turret in danger, as well as damage some foolish enemies trying to tank the tower as they kill it. On that note, TOWER DIVERS BEWARE. Use it if someone tries this foolhardy gamble to have potentially explode in their face. Plus, combined with Galio's ultimate in pressure situations, that enemy team is going to be blowing all cooldowns to get the hell out of there.

Gear
The gear itself is pretty straightforward, for Galio, for him to be any useful, MUST get magic resist. Of course never sacrifice survivability for AP (ability power for newcomers). I will actually briefly explain a few items.

CORE BUILD:

Banshee's Veil- ALWAYS GET THIS FIRST. Unless of course there is not a one caster DPS on their team. The spellshield is awesome for denying so many other heroes (Including Blitzcrank's arm grab and Singe's flip. It even blocks WW (Warwick) hungering strike). Plus the health, mana, and magic resist is great for Galio.Warmogs Armor- If the enemy team is AD heavy without anyone using Bloodrazor, get this. The extra health is great for survivability and let's you take so many more hits during the ultimate. Plus it's cheaper now!Thornmail- I didn't mention this but if you have a hero like WW on the enemy team using a Madred's Bloodrazor, use this instead of Warmog's. The extra health from Warmog's will get you killed in that situation. Auto-attack heroes hate this damn thing.Abyssal Scepter-Didn't mention this either. Again it's a situational buy. If your team is doing good and you have no survivability issues, get this to boost damage (replace Spirit Visage with it).Zhonyas Ring-Trouble staying alive? If you are, again, buy this to replace Spirit Visage. The active ability of shielding you from all incoming damage for 2 seconds will most likely let your team beat the enemy team senseless while they try to focus you.

The other items I have listed are rather self explanatory.

Warnings

Under no circumstances are you to to buy Frozen Heart or Randuin's Omen. The attack speed slow gimps the damage your ultimate can put out.
BEWARE STUNS AND SILENCES. Enemies with long range stuns and silence can potentially interrupt your ultimate with them and gimp your damage as well.
BEWARE WW. His health steal can easily make up for the damage Thornmail does. If he cleanses, his ultimate can ruin your's. Normally, I just dislike facing enemy WWs.
BE SMART WITH THE ULTIMATE. Galio has one of the longest ultimate CDs in the game at 120 seconds when it is maxed out. Don't be a derp and use it on one guy to get a killing blow. At least use it for two people to kill then because then, it will hurt the enemy team enough that with two dead, they won't try 3v5 team fights.

I hope you found this guide to be useful and use it in your experiences with Galio. Have fun and make some people cry.